It gets better!!!
My DS is almost 8 months, and he is FINALLY starting to be okay in the car-- he will even fall asleep sometimes
.
What we did:
I got really good at nursing hm in his carseat-- try both sides, I can only nurse him when i am in the passenger side back seat: not the driver's side for some reason.
DH and I switched places. Michael will be calm for a MUCH longer time if DH sits in the backseat. I hold DS and feed him, so he expects that from me. However, he plays with DH, so is more tolerant of him in the back seat
.
We moved
. We used to live 1.5 hours from town, and would travel over three hours every weekend. Now we live in a town where the longest drive is ten minutes. he doesn't get a chance to get worked up
. This has also helped on longer drives: we drive 45 minutes each way every other weekend, and he *usually* doesn't freak until we are close to our destination.
Toys! Michael is old enough that toys distract him. There is one special toy that works better than any other. It is a light up singing panda. he will hold on to it and try to pull the string to get it to sing. I was able to keep him occupied with this on a twenty minute drive with very minimal whimpering.
Sing!! This one has just started working. I sing frequently at home, and so when we are driving, this occupies him. I try familiar sounding songs, as well as easy-to-sing hymns (we haven't gotten any kids CDs yet
).
We do try to stop when he is fussy. I will try to feed him, but more often walking does the trick. We will strap him on in the mei tei, and walk briskly (this helps you to shake off some frustration, too
). Alot of times he falls asleep within minutes. We got really good at putting him in his carseat without waking him up.
The most important thing is to know this stage will pass eventually. The one or two times I drove Michael by myself I would cry along with him the whole trip. I felt like such a bad mother for letting him cry. But, the only trhing to do sometimes is to keep going, because as others mentioned, stopping will just prolong the trip (unless you can put him to sleep).
I am so glad threads like this pop up. I thought Michael was the only baby who didn't fall asleep the minute the car started up, but now I know I am not alone!
Lots of
s!!